Word Formation Questions
The difference between inflection and derivation in word formation lies in their respective processes and outcomes.
Inflection refers to the modification of a word to indicate grammatical features such as tense, number, gender, case, or person. It does not change the word's lexical category or meaning. Inflectional affixes are added to the base word, resulting in different forms of the same word. For example, adding "-s" to the noun "cat" to form the plural "cats" or adding "-ed" to the verb "walk" to indicate past tense as "walked."
On the other hand, derivation involves the creation of new words by adding affixes to a base word, resulting in a change in the word's lexical category or meaning. Derivational affixes can be added to nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs to form new words. For instance, adding the suffix "-er" to the verb "teach" creates the noun "teacher" or adding the prefix "un-" to the adjective "happy" forms the opposite meaning adjective "unhappy."
In summary, inflectional changes modify the grammatical features of a word, while derivational changes create new words with altered lexical category or meaning.